ABSTRACT
In North America between the two world wars, there was growing interest among the public in understanding how psychology could help with emotions and personal development. Some of the popular interest was fueled by the ideas of the Viennese neurologist Sigmund Freud. Physicians and psychologists were also stimulated by Freud’s powerful theories of human psychological factors in sexuality and health. His theory modeled how physical diseases could occur as a result of psychological events. Others in the new field of psychoanalysis expanded Freud’s ideas into a fully developed theory of psychosomatic medicine that drew in scientists from many disciplines, including psychology.
